EA executives are expecting Mass Effect: Andromeda will sell 3 million copies of the game during its first week after launch. This could mean that the video game company stands to sell a projected 6 to 9 million in total. The Mass Effect franchise enjoys a huge following worldwide.

Blake Jorgensen, an Electronic Arts executive, revealed that the company expects to ship 3 million copies of Mass Effect: Andromeda during the first week. Jorgensen issued the statement during a discussion of the third-quarter final results. He based this number on the six million copies of Mass Effect 3 that the company sold in total although the exact details were not divulged by the executive.

From the very beginning, EA has touted the sales potential of Mass Effect: Andromeda as the entire saga has always had a huge fan base and had done well in sales. Jorgensen, in line with the company’s belief, stated that the first week sales should make up between 30 to 50 percent of the total sales for the product. EA stands to sell between six to nine million copies of the franchise’s new game.

If present trends continue, Mass Effect: Andromeda is set to be one of the best-selling games of the year. It is hard to gauge at this early stage how sales will go over the year as game publishers are hesitant to publish numbers of how many copies are sold. However, in 2012, Mass Effect 3 missed the top 10 so EA might be aiming for the same spot this year as published by GameRant.

Speculations about how well the game will be received among fans now that one of the game’s chief protagonist, Commander Shepard, is no longer in the picture. This may cause some gamers losing interest in the franchise. EA seems to think otherwise. Whether the game will hit the mark is yet to be seen. What is certain however is that the hype surrounding the game is real. Mass Effect: Andromeda is set to be released on March 21 in the United States as reported by Ubergizmo.